Kinematics: Where and When?

Motion means changing position — being at different places at different times. Therefore, if we want to describe motion, we have to be able to describe where something is and when it is there. To do this we develop a set of tools for measuring and interpreting space and time.

To understand the context and motivation for the chapter, see the following page:

• Overview: Where and when?

Here's the full Table of Contents of the chapter. The notation "(EX)" means that there is a worked example attached to that page. The notation "{WO}" means there is an activity (a Workout) attached to that page, usually one that involves working with a simulation.

• Location in space -- Coordinates
  
  • Vectors
    • Adding vectors (WO, EX)
    • Multiplying vectors
      • The dot product
      • The cross product
    • The gradient -- a vector derivative (EX)
• Time
• Kinematic Variables (WO)
  • Velocity
    • Average velocity
    • Instantaneous velocity (EX)
    • Calculating with average velocity (EX)
  • Acceleration
    • Average acceleration
    • Instantaneous acceleration 
    • Calculating with constant acceleration (WO, EX)
• Kinematic Graphs
  • Kinematic graphs and consistency (EX)
  • Reading the content in the kinematic equations